Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Personal Business Models
Personal Business Models
Method
for Reinventing
Your Career
written by
designed by
co-created by
328 work life wizards
from 43 countries
cover illustration by
Matt Hammill
www.matthammill.com
additional illustrations by
Alan Smith
Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss
to tim@timclark.net.
Trish Papadakos
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e
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v
e
r
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i
h
Enjoy t
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www.
Business Model
YOU
.com
A One-Page
Method
for Reinventing
Your Career
designed by
written by
co-created by
edited by
Megan Lacey
production assistance
Patrick van der Pijl
YOU
Adie Shariff
Afroz Ali
AJ Shah
Alan Scott
Alan Smith
Alejandro Lembo
Alessandro De Sanctis
Alexander Osterwalder
Alfredo Osorio Asenjo
Ali Heathfield
Allan Moura Lima
Allen Miner
Amber Lewis
Andi Roberts
Andre Malzoni dos Santos Dias
Andrew E. Nixon
Andrew Warner
Anne McCrossan
Annemarie Ehren
Annette Mason
Ant Clay
Anthony Caldwell
Anthony Moore
Anton de Gier
Anton de Wet
Antonio Lucena de Faria
Beau Braund
Ben Carey
Ben White
Bernd Nurnberger
Bernie Maloney
Bertil Schaart
Bjrn Kijl
Blanca Vergara
Bob Fariss
Brenda Eichelberger
Brian Ruder
Brigitte Roujol
Bruce Hazen
Bruce MacVarish
Brunno Pinto Guedes Cruz
Bryan Aulick
Bryan Lubic
Camilla van den Boom
Carl B. Skompinski
Carl DAgostino
Carles Esquerre Victori
Carlos Jose Perez Ferrer
Caroline Cleland
Cassiano Farani
Catharine MacIntosh
Cesar Picos
Charles W. Clark
Cheenu Srinivasan
Cheryl Rochford
Christian Labezin
Christian Schneider
Christine Thompson
Cindy Cooper
Claas Peter Fischer
Claire Fallon
Claudio DIpolitto
Csszr Csaba
Daniel E. Huber
Daniel Pandza
Daniel Sonderegger
Danijel Brener
Danilo Tic
Darcy Walters-Robles
Dave Crowther
Dave Wille
David Devasahayam Edwin
David Hubbard
David Sluis
Deborah Burkholder
Deborah Mills-Scofield
Denise Taylor
Diane Mermigas
Dinesh Neelay
Diogo Carmo
Donald McMichael
Dora Luz Gonzlez Baales
Doug Gilbert
Doug Morwood
Doug Newdick
Dr. Jerry A. Smith
Dustin Lee Watson
Ed Voorhaar
Edgardo Vazquez
Eduardo Pedreo
Edwin Kruis
Eileen Bonner
Elie Besso
Elizabeth Topp
Eltje Huisman
Emmanuel A. Simon
Eric Anthony Spieth
Eric Theunis
Erik A. Leonavicius
Erik Kiaer
Erik Silden
Ernest Buise
Ernst Houdkamp
Eugen Rodel
Evert Jan van Hasselt
Fernando Saenz-Marrero
Filipe Schuur
Floris Kimman
Floris Venneman
Fran Moga
Francisco Barragan
Frank Penkala
Fred Coon
Fred Jautzus
Freek Talsma
Frenetta A. Tate
Frits Oukes
Gabriel Shalom
Gary Percy
Geert van Vlijmen
Gene Browne
Ginger Grant, PhD
Giorgio Casoni
Giorgio Pauletto
Giselle Della Mea
Greg Krauska
Greg Loudoun
Hank Byington
Hans Schriever
Hansrudolf Suter
Heiner Kaufmann
Hind
IJsbrand Kaper
Iigo Irizar
Ioanna Matsouli
Ivo Frielink
Iwan Mller
Jacco Hiemstra
James C. Wylie
James Fyles
Jan Schmiedgen
Jason Mahoney
Javier Guevara
Jean Gasen
Jeffrey Krames
Jelle Bartels
Jenny L. Berger
Jeroen Bosman
Joeri de Vos
Joeri Lefvre
Johan Ploeg
Johann Gevers
Johannes Frhmann
John Bardos
John van Beek
John Wark
John L. Warren
John Ziniades
Jonas rts Holm
Jonathan L. York
Joost de Wit
Joost Fluitsma
Jordi Collell
Juerg H. Hilgarth-Weber
Justin Coetsee
Justin Junier
Kadena Tate
Kai Kollen
Kamal Hassan
Karin van Geelen
Karl Burrow
Katarzyna Krolak-Wyszynska
Katherine Smith
Keiko Onodera
Keith Hampson
Kevin Fallon
Khushboo Chabria
Klaes Rohde Ladeby
Kuntal Trivedi
Lacides R. Castillo
Lambert Becks
Laura Stepp
Laurence Kuek Swee Seng
Lauri Kutinlahti
Lawrence Traa
Lee Heathfield
Lenny van Onselen
Linda Bryant
Liviu Ionescu
Lukas Feuerstein
Luzi von Salis
Maaike Doyer
Maarten Bouwhuis
Maarten Koomans
Manuel Grassler
Marc McLaughlin
Marcelo Salim
Marcia Kapustin
Marco van Gelder
Margaritis Malioris
Maria Augusta Orofino
Marieke Post
Marieke Versteeg
Marijn Mulders
Marjo Nieuwenhuijse
Mark Attaway
Mark Eckhardt
Mark Fritz
Mark Lundy
Mark Nieuwenhuizen
Markus Heinen
Martin Howitt
Martin Kaczynski
Marvin Sutherland
Mats Pettersson
Matt Morscheck
Matt Stormont
Matthijs Bobeldijk
Megan Lacey
Melissa Cooley
Michael Dila
Michael Eales
Michael Estabrook
Michael Korver
Michael N. Wilkens
Michael S. Ruzzi
Michael Weiss
Mikael Fuhr
Mike Lachapelle
Miki Imazu
Mikko Mannila
Mohamad Khawaja
Natasja la Lau
Nathalie Mnard
Nathan Robert Mol
Nathaniel Spohn
Nei Grando
Niall Daly
Nick Niemann
Nicolas De Santis
Oliver Buecken
Olivier J. Vavasseur
Orhan Gazi Kandemir
Paola Valeri
Patrick Betz
Patrick Keenan
Patrick Quinn
Patrick Robinson
Patrick van der Pijl
Paul Hobcraft
Paul Merino
Paula Asinof
Pere Losantos
Peter Gaunt
Peter Quinlan
Peter Schreck
Peter Sims
Peter Squires
Petrick de Koning
Philip Galligan
Philippe De Smit
Philippe Rousselot
Pieter van den Berg
PK Rasam
Rahaf Harfoush
Rainer Barei
Ralf de Graaf
Ralf Meyer
Ravinder S. Sethi
Raymond Guyot
Rebecca Cristina C Bulhoes
Silva
Reiner Walter
Renato Nobre
Riaz Peter
Richard Bell
Richard Gadberry
Richard Narramore
Richard Schieferdecker
Rien Dijkstra
Thomas Drake
Thomas Klimek
Thomas Rhr Kristiansen
Thorsten Faltings
Tiffany Rashel
Till Kraemer
Tim Clark
Tim Kastelle
Toni Borsattino
Tony Fischer
Travis Cannon
Trish Papadakos
Tufan Karaca
Ugo Merkli
Uta Boesch
Veronica Torras
Vicki Lind
Vincent de Jong
Ying Zhao-Chau
Yves Claude Aubert
Yves Pigneur
from 43 countries
Real Reinventors:
Account Manager 69
Advertising Executive 75
Blogger 196
Business Coach 202
Career Counselor 126
Computer Programmer 116
Computer Technician 239
Doctor 59
Doctoral Student 76
Dog Runner 82
Editor 171
Engineer 61
Entrepreneur 137
Executive Assistant 73
Finance and Operations
Manager 233
Freelance Graphic Designer
Green Advocate 176
67
Historian 134
IT Professional 100
Musician 194
Online Marketer 236
Premed Student 118
Radio Announcer 200
Recycling Coordinator 224
Sales Professional 71
Seeker 145
Start! page 14
page 15 Start!
1 2
3 4 5
Canvas
Reflect
Revise
Act
Extras
chapter 8
chapter 4
chapter 2
53
81
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 9
161
chapter 7
133
209
223
chapter 10
175
Whats Next?
243
252
Creator Bios
254
Footnotes
256
Section 1 page 16
Canvas
Learn to use the key tool for describing and analyzing
organizational and personal business models.
Section 1 page 20
Why Business
Model Thinking is
the Best Way For
You to Adapt to a
Changing World
page 21 Canvas
financially.3
to remain competitive.
Youre in good company. According to one survey, five out of six adults
for others.
co-creators (who represent 43 countries), its like this across the globe.
powerful approach one in tune with the modern workscape and our
personal needs.
machines.
Enter the business model: an excellent framework by which to describe,
No doubt youve heard the term business model before. What is it, exactly?
Section 1 page 26
page 27 Canvas
Every Organization
has a Business Model
have in common?
jobs done.
to have done?
models?
To illuminate this idea, lets look at three enterprises.
organization operates.
community members who want support and camaraderie in their quest to maintain or improve fitness.
Section 1 page 32
page 33 Canvas
Customers *
Value Provided *
Channels
Revenue *
Key Resources
Key Activities
Key Partners
Costs
Organizations communicate
Customer
Relationships
An organization serves
by solving Customer
Customers
problems or satisfying
Money comes in
Customer needs.
ways
elements.
described elements.
with Customers.
Section 1 page 34
page 35 Canvas
Value Provided
Key Activities
Customer
Relationships
Customers
Key Partners
Customers
Key Resources
Costs
Channels
Revenue
Section 1 page 46
page 47 Canvas
KP
KA
VP
CR
KR
C$
CH
R$
CS
Section 1 page 48
page 49 Canvas
Dr aw
or pr int
a Ca nv as
Ap pl y
st ick y
no te s
D e s c r ib e y o u r
o r g a n iz a t io n s
Key
Activities
Value
Provided
Customer
Relationships
Key
Resources
Customers
Channels
b u il d in g
blocks
Costs
Revenue
Section 1 page 50
page 51 Canvas
Non- payin g
Value
Provided
Key
Activities
plat form
user s
cust omer s
Customer
Relationships
complaints
Key
Resources
Plat form
Automated,
othe rs in their
comm unitie s
impersonal
at to rn eys
co ns ul ta nt s
Respond to
te ch no lo gy
pr ov ide rs ,
Customers
2. Buye rs
and sell ers
of serv ices,
Channels
Low- cost
clas sified
adve rtisin g
3. Employers
Wo rl d Wi de We
b
and landlords
Costs
Revenue
Offic e and
infra stru ctur e
leas e/re nt
Lega l and
prof essio nal fees
Channels
Key Activities
Customer Relationships
Key Partners
Customers
Revenue
Costs
As a privately held company, craigslist is not
Key Resources
Value Provided
fee s for
staff.
combined.
Section 1 page 54
page 55 Canvas
Personal
Key
Partners
W ho
he lp s
yo u
The Canvas works for describing personal business models just as it does for
describing organizational business models. Note a couple of differences between
the two, though:
Costs
Customer
Relationships
Customers
Ho w yo u
int er ac t
How you
help
Wh o you are
and wh at
you hav e
Value Provided
What
you do
Key
Resources
In a personal business model, the Key Resource is you: your interests, skills
and abilities, personality, and the assets you own or control. In organizations,
Key Resources often include a broader range of resources, such as other people.
When drawing a personal business model, you may find these alternate
building block descriptions helpful:
Key
Activities
What
you give
W h o yo u
help
Channels
How they
know you
and how you
delive r
Revenue and Benefits
What
you get
Section 1 page 56
page 57 Canvas
What you do
(Key Activities)
Grab paper, pencil, and sticky notes; this chapter is where your personal
business model begins to take shape. A few things to keep in mind:
While drafting your first personal business model, limit yourself to
the professional work you do to earn a living.
Painting a clear, accurate picture of your professional activities lays the
foundation for later addressing soft career elements such as satisfaction,
stress, recognition, time demands, social contribution, etc.
these
r e in v e n t o r s
w il l h e l p
h
yo u w it h e a c
k
b u il d in g b l o c
key point:
76
profile:
Key
Partners
Value Provided
Key
Activities
editing
Customers
personal service,
rewriting
onslaught. By the time she was laid off, she had enrolled in a doctoral program with the
Customer
Relationships
researching
improve article
retention focus
Thanks to her strong interest in sustainability issues and connections provided by her
doctoral committee
doctoral committee members, Chris found part-time work copyediting scholarly papers
members
m a r k et in
Key
Resources
helping Customers get articles published in leading scholarly journals. So she decided to
raise her hourly rate significantly and charge for research time.
mostly in europe
help cust omer s get
publ ished in lead ing
acad emic journ als
university professors,
Channels
e-mail
interest in business,
skype
sustainability
Internet
top-notch writing,
editing skills
meticulous, detail-oriented
Costs
name
Chris Burns
r
tim e, en er gy fo
,
ch
ar
se
ex tr a re
ma rk et ing
editing fees
bigge r fees
Section 2 page 78
Reflect
Revisit your life direction and consider how you want
to align your personal and career aspirations.
Section 2 page 86
page 87 Reflect
creativity/
The World
Beyond Work
self-expression
Love
fitness/health
fun/recreation
wealth/money
career
personal/spiritual
friends/family
growth
Lifestyle/Possessions.
satisfaction.
for another.
more important.
page 95 Reflect
Who am I?
1. Husband
What excites
me about
each of these
roles?
2. Father
3. Teacher
Stimulation, joy,
satisfaction in seeing
childrens future
useful, exploring/revealing
mysteries/truths,
exercising planning and
ur
4 . E n t r e p r e n e
erated by
Excitement gen
hing new,
creating somet
r, mystery,
reward/dange
n
self-expressio
5. Writer
Self-expression,
recognition, pleasu
re in
exercising writing
skills
and techniques, bea
uty
and elegance
presentation skills,
learning, writing
Common
denominators?
Exploring/revealing
mysteries/truths, planning
and presenting, writing,
6. Son
recognizing
Family bonds,
s/own
self in parent
ing about
children, think
legacy
7. Brother
8.
Translator
Family bonds,
Exercising an unusual
companionship,
thinking about
legacy
9. Speaker
10. Musician
Attention, recognition,
Creating/sharing beauty,
learning, companionship,
performing
self-expression,
learning, exercising
unusual skill,
companionship
Section 3 page 98
page 99 Reflect
Interests
(what excites you)
Personality
(the way you like to work
and relate to others)
Lifeline
Discovery
Most career professionals agree that work satisfaction
is driven by three key factors: interests, skills and
abilities, and personality. 10
The Lifeline Discovery is a tool that helps you define
and examine these factors.
Accepted to
JHS yearbook
commitTEE
- Excitement/Enjoyment +
My Lifeline
- Excitement/Enjoyment +
move to abq
then to pdx
high school
graduation
graduate
from pcc
1st job
in pdx
birth of sons
got married
got job
at et
got job
at lm
Darcys Lifeline
last semester
at nmsu
trip to
tibet
mba graduation
promotion
Time
acquisition
job at s
fathers
death
Time
Hollands
Six Tendencies
Social
Prefers working with people
to inform, develop, help, or
cure. Interpersonal/educational
ability. Tends to avoid activities
demanded by realistic occupa-
Speech notes
to the team
Conventional
Prefers organizing/processing
data in structured situations.
Clerical/computational ability.
Tends to avoid ambiguous,
free, unstructured occupations
tions or situations.
or situations.
Enterprising
Prefers influencing/leading others
to achieve organizational goals or
economic gain. Leadership/persuasion
ability. Tends to avoid investigative
Investigative
occupations or situations.
Prefers investigating/researching
physical, biological, or cultural
phenomena. Scientific/mathematical ability. Tends to avoid
A
Artistic
Realistic
occupations or situations.
name
key point:
Carl James
The entrepreneur
profile:
The company I started did research and market entry consulting for companies wanting to
enter Asian markets, particularly Japan. After more than six years of ferociously hard work,
we received a multi-million-dollar buyout offer. This was all new to me; when I started,
I didnt even know people sold companies.
Anyway, I paid off three mortgages, maxed out the kids college funds, took the family on
a great vacation, and invested the remainder to provide passive income. But like everyone
else, I still faced the big question: What am I going to do with the rest of my life?
In a way, that question grew tougher precisely because Id been relieved of the pressing
need to earn a living. Seeking answers sharpened my awareness that work is about more
than achieving financial independence.
I think most successful entrepreneurs feel the same way. Ive talked with a lot of people
who collectively have sold dozens of companies for amounts ranging from one to $40
million U.S. Not a single one ever mentioned achieving financial independence as their
primary motivation for working.
Fortune-seekers can rarely sustain their passion through the hard times. Successful
about you; its about effectively serving others.
137
Raise Your
Purpose Flag!
the comparison.
Where to begin
Purpose is equally important when creating an orga-
But how do you recognize and/or shape your overarching Purpose? The next three experiments can
help you answer that crucial question.
purpose
Fernando Senz-Marrero
Michael Estabrook
Kadena Tate
Malaysia
Spain
United States
United States
Kat Smith
Emmanuel A. Simon
Marieke Post
United States
Netherlands
Chile
Revise
Adjustor reinventyour work life using the
Canvas and discoveries from previous sections.
What follows are five steps to help you pair insights from Chapters
4 through 6 with a set of crucial reinvention toolsand guide you
toward a brand new Canvas.
What you do
(Key Activities)
want to take.
Diagnosis Qs
Who You Are & What You Have
What You Do
Diagnosis Qs
What is the true job the Customer is trying to get done? Does the Customer
Questions
Key Resources (Who You Are) and Key Activities (What You Do).
You also may want to reconsider your Purpose. Revisit Chapters 4 and 5.
Are Costs, including soft Costs, too high to justify serving this Customer?
Is serving the Customer too expensive?
Is Revenue (or Benefits) too low? Can you afford to fire the Customer?
Can you afford not to fire the Customer? Work through Value Provided,
Costs, and Revenue and Benefits diagnosis questions.
dissatisfaction. Can you add that ability or skill to your Key Activities to
support or improve your Value Provided? Revisit Chapters 4 and 5 to examine
why you are underutilizing that skill.
If so, terrific! If not, consider acquiring new Customers (or Key Partners) with
more compatible personality tendencies. Customers are linked to Value Provided,
so check Value Provided diagnosis questions on the next page. Check Chapter
4 to make sure your personality harmonizes with your work activities.
Can you help them define it? Can you redefine or modify Key Activities to
Reinvention Inspiration
As personal business model reinventors, we rely on similar tools.
But our individual processesand outcomesare unique.
The final pages of this chapter feature four distinctive reinvention stories.
While each differs from your personal circumstances, they may help
enrich and expand your understanding of how you can personally apply
the BMY methodology.
1. Prepare Canvas.
2. In the following stories, note how focus on one
or two building blocks produced significant change.
3. Redraw your own model.
Remembe
r the occu
pation ind
Now migh
ex on page
t be a goo
12?
d time to re
about an o
view it and
ccupation
read
similar to
yours.
194
key point:
The Musician
Following a successful television appearance at age 17, Amsterdam-based singer Hind was
What you do
(Key Activities)
re co rd , pr om
ot e,
artis ts
find new
handle legal,
an Edison Award for best upcoming artist. After that, though, she became overshadowed
dio St at ion s
ma na ge Ra
r hel
ps wi th
bu sin ess , lo gis tic
s
At the same time, the exploding popularity of downloadable songs weakened the traditional
de liv er mu sic
lp s
se ll ab an d hes
Rad io Sta tion
ce
an
fin
freedom to pursue her own visionmeant she needed to reinvent her personal business
model. Hind started asking tough questions about the Channels building block. How did
fans find out about her? Was her music purchased and delivered in ways fans preferred?
wr ite , re co rd ,
pe rf or m
del iver
Answering these questions lead to a clear decision: Hind and manager Eddie Tjon Fo
would create their own label, B-Hind, a new model that would ensure full control over
ar ti st
ad va nc es
mu sic ian s
co mm un ic at e
fa ns
di re ct ly w
it h fa ns
inspir e, ente rtain
sic
pa ss ion fo r mu
rs
he lp ad ve rt ise
le
ab
sir
de
re ac h
au die nc e
distr ibuti on ,
lega l, finan cial
exper tise
le s
CD mu si c sa
le ga l,
dis tr ibu tio n
co st s
mon ey
Dig ita l
Mu sic
Sa le s
Time ,
Ene rgy ,
mu si c fa ns
ad ver tis er s
pr od uct bu yer s
sen se
sal arie s
ove rhe ad
s,
fans
financial issues
ng
se ek ad ve rt isi
op po rt un iti es
music industry business model: Record labels no longer dominated the channels for
Hind
New Model
signed by German music giant BMG, sold 40,000 copies of her debut album, and received
by bigger BMG stars and struggled to promote her own material.
name
Traditional Model
profile:
Ris k
conc ert
admis sions
ai r pl ay
ro ya lt ie s
ad ve rt is in g,
me rc ha nd is in
g
fe es
Act
Learn to make it all happen.
Take-Home Pays
True Meaning
1 1
income.
We could think of the $1,120 in payroll deductions as
a sort of cost of incomean expense Emily must
take-home pay.
4,000
1, 120
Take-home pay
2, 880
Naturally, Emily would like to maximize her takehome pay. But she has no choice in the matter: If
she wants to earn income as an employee (and stay
Expenses
Housing
Food
Medical
Car
Utilities
Other
725
600
125
200
175
605
Profit
$450
tS
ian
hoe
Com
pan
t
ig h
e
, e
Do
nd
sa
il y
Em thou
o
tw
ry
la
sa
st
gu
u
a
hu
nd
d
re
an
e ig
ht
1 5
8
2 ,8
80
.o o
Calculating
Your Worth
Paid picture.
receive.
6,232
What retailers keep
14,268
What consumers pay
3,036
costs
3. $4,000 + $1,000 = $5,000
8,036
1,000
5,000
1,120
Emilys benefits
2,880
Working with paper, posters, markers, and Post-it notes is powerful and fun, but
sometimes a little software support can bring you to an entirely new level. With the
Business Model Toolbox for the iPad and the Web, you can sketch out, estimate,
annotate, share, collaborate, iterate and pivot all your business models. With the
toolbox you get the speed of a napkin sketch and the smarts of a spreadsheet in one.
Annual reviews/personnel
development in organizations
For personnel directors conducting annual reviews,
The toolbox also lets users modify building block labels and content to accommodate personal business model descriptions. A dedicated personal business model
application might offer electronic versions of this books tools to help users assess
their interests, skills and abilities, and personality tendencies (Key Resources).
Extras
Read more about the people and
resources behind Business Model You.
Creator Bios
Megan Lacey, Editor
Champion of language and running evangelist, Megan
joined the Business Model You team while reinventing
her career. After serving for several years as a publishing
company editor, a short but glorious stint as a college
writing instructor convinced her to pursue additional
teaching credentials. Megans now completing her
Master in Teaching degree at Washington State
University, training for her third ultramarathon, and
will sooneconomy willingteach high school
English (and preach running on the side!).
BusinessModelsInc.com
of Tsukuba in Tokyo.
flavors.me/trishpapadakos
TimClark.net
BusinessModelGeneration.com
BusinessModelGeneration.com
BusinessModelYou.com
isbn: 978-0-615-50719-4